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So today is the 26.08.13 and I'm currently sat in Times Square watching the world go by! Yesterday was a good day, we were wide awake by 6am so we got up and went for a walk near our hostel. We noticed that police has closed parts of the main road (Amsterdam avenue)....later that day we were to find out that this was for a street market, they had so many food stalls and lemonade stands and of course many stalls selling things that you don't need but some selling a lot of lovely things too. During our walk we found a park and were like 2 small children when we came across a slide! Of course we had to have a go! Later that morning we headed to Central Park which was incredible. It is such a huge open space in the middle of the craziest, busiest place I have ever been to! We saw many bands playing, lots of street artists including a crazy black man who jumped over 4 people!!! After getting lost in the park for about 1.5 hours we found our way to the south exit. On the way we passed all the horse and carts and the part of the park which features mostly in famous films. From here we went and found Times Square. This was just how I had imagined it, huge!! There were so many advertising screens, street stalls and tacky people dressed up like the Statue of Liberty trying to make money! We had a typical American hotdog and perched on a bench. When I say perched....I mean I sat on a bench (which didn't have a back) I went to take my backpack off and a man had the audacity to sit on the other side, so I then had to sit back to back with a stranger! (I soon got over this). From here we walked back to the hostel....'walked' makes it sound like a nice stroll, it turned out being more like the length of a marathon! After about an hour of pritty much silence I asked fliss if her body ached as much as mine...luckily she agreed so I didn't feel weak! After a lovely quick Skype with dan (:D) we headed for the tub...with both backpacks on! I was so so happy when we got to the station and it had wide chairs, enough space for my huge backpack and my bum....(Mum, I'm hearing you say 'it must have been a big chair'!). Finally we arrived at David and Stephanie's who are so so lovely. They have a lovely apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hoboken is only 2 square miles. We enjoyed a lovely supper and a glass of wine with them and were in bed by 9pm! Rock and roll I hear you say!! :)
I'm currently sitting in front of The Concourse Rockefeller centre which is a large dip surround by the worlds flags, at the moment the dip is full of restaurant tables but in the winter it is an ice rink. This morning I had my first cup of coffee in 3 days (for anyone that knows how much coffee I drink will understand how much I enjoyed this!). We went for a lovely walk around Hoboken with David and Bella the dog. Hoboken is a lovely town across the water from New York City. We then got the subway to the World Trade Centre to see ground zero. Yesterday I drank so much water so I thought I'd be clever and use the camal back that Dan had bought me as a leaving gift....well once I had got on the train I realised that my back was soaked! I soon found out that I had been sitting on the mouth piece of the camal back.....I don't think ill be so 'practical' next time! Ground Zero was interesting to see....there were two waterfalls going down into the ground and then down again into a void. The two marked both towers. All the victims names were written around each waterfall, a few names had white roses on which meant that it would have been their birthdays today which I found really moving. The surround area was home to many white oak trees. On the way to the staton island ferry I bought a peach and a banana for $1!! The old sweaty man gave it to me for a special price, he said 'a sweet peach for a sweet lady'....cheesy but clearly I'm a sucker for cheese!
We saw the Statue of Liberty from the free ferry. It was pritty cool, but I wasn't blown away by it....but I obviously took the obligatory tourist photo! We got the subway to Grand Central Station which was beautiful! It was just like the films! A lady ran up next to us and decided to plank in the middle of the station! Each to there own!
I seem to talk about food a lot on here BUT today I bought a ft long subway, a drink and a cookies for $7!! I thought this was a real bargain! That's lunch and dinner for $7! Another bonus was that the chubby guy behind the counter have us a free cookie and gave us a larger drink :) I naively thought this was because he knew that we were backpackers but Felicity suggested that actually it was because we were two polite female girls :) we spent 1.5 hours sitting in the middle of Times Square eating our lunch, writing diaries and watching the world go by!
We visited the New York public library which was just how I thought it would be, grand entrance, huge rooms, tall bookshelves, large wooden desks and individual desk lamps! We sat in Bryant park which is next to the library watching all that goes on there....from people playing chess, others on their laptops, others reading in the reading corner and others just socialising!
Later in the day we went to the top of the rock which was beautiful...we arrived at the top whilst it was still light and stayed until it got dark. It was so cool to see the whole city light up :)
Note: don't walk up to the Empire State Building....such a disappointment!
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